Thaler - Chronology of Thaler Development

Chronology of Thaler Development

• 1486: Sigismund of Tirol issues his 31.93g Guldengroschen of 60 Kreuzers and 937.5 fineness.
• 1493: Switzerland issues its first Guldengroschen at Bern
• 1500: The first German Guldengroschen is issued from Saxony, with a value of 24 Groschen. In Bremen it circulates equivalent to 36 Groten. These Guldengroschen are reduced in weight to 29.2g so as to be minted at eight coins to the Cologne mark.
• 1518: The first coin actually called a "Thaler" is minted in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, H.R.E.. Its weight is as the standard of 1500.
• 1524: In an attempt to standardize the guldiner, a money ordinance (Reichsmünzordnung) is issued at Esslingen, Germany reaffirming the fineness of the coin at 937.5, and its weight to 29.2g
• 1534: Saxony and Bohemia alter the fineness of their guldiners down from 937.5 purity to 903.0 while maintaining the same coin weight, thus lowering the actual amount of pure silver in the coin. This begins a separation of the Thaler from its guldiner ancestry.
• 1551: A new money ordinance is decreed in Augsburg that lowers the guldiner's purity to 882.0, but raises the weight of the coin to 31.18g. This returns the coin to being the equal value of a Goldgulden. The Thaler is now equivalent to 72 Kreuzer.
• 1559: After the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, yet another money ordinance is decreed at Augsburg, this time radically altering the coin (now to be called a Reichsguldiner) down to a mass of just 24.62g, but returning the coin to 931.0 fineness. This sets the Guldiner to be equivalent to 60 Kreuzer once again.
• 1566: The guldiner as a denomination is more or less eliminated by a Saxon money edict that establishes the Reichsthaler (known later as the Speciesthaler) with a fineness of 889.0 and a weight of 29.2g
• 1667: An agreement made at the Abbey of Zinna between Saxony, Brandenburg, and Brunswick-Lüneburg to help make the minting of small coins more economical than could be done under the old Augsburg ordinances led to the Thaler being reduced in weight to 28.1g but retaining the same 889.0 fineness.
• 1690: The Leipzig Money Convention met to deal with the poor quality of coinage in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Brunswick. The agreement of 1667 had not solved the problem so the Thaler was again reduced in weight down to 25.9g. At this point 12 Thaler are being minted to provide one Cologne Mark of silver, up from nine in 1500.
• 1750: This year saw yet another reduction in weight in the areas controlled by Prussia, Hesse, and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel down to just 22.2g and a fineness of 750.0. 14 Thaler are minted to contain one Cologne Mark of silver.
• 1754: The monetary agreement between Austria and Bavaria in 1753 began the period of the Conventionsthaler, a Thaler set at 10 to equal one Cologne Mark of silver. Its weight was 28.0g with a fineness of 833.0. Over time this coin spread into a large portion of central and southern Germany.
• 1755: The Kronenthaler is first issued in areas controlled by the Habsburgs, especially in the Netherlands and southern Germany. It had a weight of 29.44g and a fineness of 873.0.
• 1857: The Vienna monetary contract finally eliminates the Cologne Mark as a standard against which the silver coinage of Austria and Germany are reckoned, replacing it with a simple tariff of 500g. Thirty Vereinsthalers are set to be minted from this 500g standard. The coins weighed 18.5g and had a fineness of 900.0. They are set to equal 90 Austrian Kreuzer, 105 Bavarian Kreuzer, 30 Groschen, or 48 Schilling depending on the minting region.
• 1872: The last Thaler are minted in a few states, notably Saxony.
• 1908: The last circulating thalers were withdrawn and demonetized in Germany.
• Early years of 20th century: unsuccessful attempt to mint Maria Theresa thaler in Abyssinia. Starting in 1935 Italians mint the coin still popular in the area.